Farmers Notes Safety Program for Teen Drivers

Farmers® Insurance and the I Saw You Safety and Scholarship Foundation announced a pilot program for teen drivers that could reportedly drastically improve teen driving safety and encourage teens to be more responsible drivers. The goal of the program is to help reduce the incidence of youthful driver related motor vehicle crashes.

The I Saw You Safety & Scholarship Foundation program invites parents who are Farmers auto customers to participate in this program free of charge by putting a decal on the vehicle their teen usually drives, which asks other drivers to call a toll-free number to report on their teen’s driving habits (both positive and negative). If the I Saw You Foundation receives a report on the monitored vehicle, the foundation will notify the parents of the details so that the parents may take whatever action they think is necessary.

The I Saw You Safety & Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit public charity, developed this program for teens based on the reported success that similar programs have had with commercial fleet vehicles.

“Teen drivers tend to take more risks and are therefore in more accidents than other categories of drivers. We felt this program would be a great opportunity to try and reduce the number of teens in automobile accidents,” said Steve Norling-Christensen, field support manager for California at Farmers.

The program became available in California beginning July 1 and will continue through Sept. 30.

Farmers is the first major insurer to test this program. Farmers currently offers premium discounts to parents of teen drivers who participate in Farmers’ Y.E.S. (You’re Essential to Safety) Program – a program that is endorsed by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. If the I Saw You Safety & Scholarship Foundation pilot program proves successful, it may become a component of Farmers’ Y.E.S. Program.

“The Foundation believes that combined efforts by parents, teens, and the reporting public will make this program a success – greatly reducing accidents and injuries – while providing teens an opportunity to drive their way to college,” added Holly Odom, executive director of the foundation.